NE Advocates Envision New Vote Restoration Act That Helps Individuals Join the State/Public News Service

April is Second Chance Month and many Nebraskans are celebrating the passage of a bipartisan voting rights restoration bill and its focus on second chances.

Bill 20 restores voting rights to those convicted of a crime after serving their sentences, eliminating the two-year waiting period.

Jason Witmer, policy fellow at the ACLU of Nebraska, said the change will promote the success of formerly incarcerated Nebraskans. He pointed out that this also increases the likelihood of achieving the goals that Governor Jim Pillen and the Department of Corrections have committed to.

Nebraska became the fourth state to join “Reentry 2030,” a national initiative of Council of State governments aimed at strengthening programs and removing barriers for those seeking to reenter society after incarceration.

“The more someone can have their rights taken care of, the more they invest in society,” Witmer argued. “The more you invest in your community and your society, the more likely you are to succeed. And the right to vote is fundamental to reintegrating into society. It is your civic voice.”

Reentry 2030 aims for all 50 states to commit to improving outcomes for formerly incarcerated people. Nebraska’s goals include increasing GED completion and college coursework by those in Nebraska prisons, and reducing recidivism by 50% by 2030.

Pillen allowed the measure to become law, but stated that it contains “potential constitutional issues” that could lead to a legal challenge.

Nebraska’s recidivism rate among those who left prison between 2019 and 2022 was nearly 30%.

Witmer noted that this is at least partly due to the challenges people face when they leave prison.

“You’ve taken your time, and then you come out and find out, ‘Oh, I can’t vote. Oh, housing is almost impossible to get. Oh, I can’t work here,'” Witmer outlined. “Suddenly you don’t feel like you’re part of this anymore.”

Across the country, 37 other states are restoring the voting rights of those charged with a crime immediately after incarceration or after completing parole or probation. Two states and the District of Columbia allow people to vote while in prison.

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Mississippi prisons often lack resources to adequately treat people incarcerated with substance abuse problems, but a nonprofit organization is offering alternative programs that focus on treatment rather than incarceration.

The Magnolia State has one of the highest incarceration rates in the country, with more than 1,000 people per 100,000 residents behind bars.

Christina Dent, founder and president of End It For Good, said they invite people to support an approach to drugs that prioritizes life, preserving families and promoting public safety.

“We do outreach in the community – with citizens, with advocates, with policymakers – to help them understand why a punitive criminal justice approach to drugs and addiction has not yielded good results and why a health-oriented approach has much better would produce results. Dent explained.

According to the Prison Policy Initiative, more than 578,000 people in state and federal prisons in 2022 are estimated to have had a substance use disorder in the year prior to their admission.

Dent emphasized that they recommend lawmakers look at other alternatives to end reactionary approaches that result in Mississippians paying harsher penalties for crimes such as drug possession.

“Away with increasing penalties,” Dent urged. “Another thing we could do is reduce penalties or recategorize penalties for something like drug possession. We would like to see a shift from treating drug possession as potentially a misdemeanor to drug possession as a misdemeanor.”

Dent noted that such an alternative approach would make it easier for affected individuals to regain employment, support their families and reintegrate into society. She added that felony convictions create lifelong barriers to employment and self-sufficiency.

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A new website aims to help Kentuckians just out of prison reenter their communities and find job training, employment and recovery services.

April is Second Chance Month – and according to the Prison Policy Initiative, about 60% of formerly incarcerated people are unemployed.

Governor Andy Beshear said the website – secondchance.ky.gov – is intended to reduce the bureaucracy surrounding job searches and bring resources together in one place, making it easier for people to get back on their feet.

“We’re not having our worst day,” Beshear said. “When we look at how many people in Kentucky have criminal records, it’s the right thing to do. But it’s also necessary from a workforce perspective.”

In 2021, lawmakers passed legislation directing the Kentucky Department of Corrections to issue employability certificates to people who successfully complete programs while in prison.

It also helps increase access to state-issued IDs for those leaving prison.

The website includes information about job resumption assistance, job search and local reemployment services.

Beshear said the site will eventually include an expanded list of employers, such as Kentucky State Parks, that participate in second chance employment.

“If they need to find resources on how to get to that next level of education or workforce training,” Beshear said, “and then ultimately be able to see a list of employers who are willing to look to them for a second chance at work.”

Companies across the Commonwealth can also find information about programs that can help hire and retain more second-chance workers, including the Fair Chance Academy, the Kentucky Transformational Employment program, Prison-to-Work Pipeline and Jobs on Day One programs.

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A package to improve public safety is advancing in the California state legislature — with a vote in the State Assembly on the first bill expected this week.

Assembly Bill 2215 legislates that police officers have the discretion to send people arrested for low-level offenses directly to support services.

Anthony DiMartino, director of government affairs at the nonprofit Californians for Safety and Justice, said public safety is sometimes best served when people avoid arrest and instead get therapy, addiction treatment or help finding a job.

“We also hope to raise awareness that this is something officers can do, and then also encourage partnerships with officers to look at what’s happening in their community,” DiMartino said, “as an alternative to booking jail sentences. “

A second bill would increase transparency and accountability for money sent to counties as part of the public safety realignment.

A third bill would require police officers, prosecutors and investigators to identify themselves whenever they question a family member of someone killed or seriously injured by police.

DiMartino said they also support AB 2499, which would allow survivors of violent crimes and their family members to take unpaid leave to address and heal safety issues.

“We hope to broaden the scope a little bit,” DiMartino said, “and make it clearer that family members of victims can also use unpaid leave to support their family member who has been victimized.”

A fifth bill would make it easier for justice-involved people and crime victims to speak freely during restorative justice programs — by making communications inadmissible in other legal proceedings.

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